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Activity Stream
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akflyer added a post in a topic Avid+ flight Observations
Time to update the ole Avatar pic...
The new bird is way to nice to not show it off!
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SuberAvid added a post in a topic Avid+ flight Observations
Hey Jim, that is great news! One step closer to getting it in the air. I will be interested in your specs; like I said in my other reply, our TO RPM's are quite different so I am qurious what your redrive ratio is and where you measure your blade angle on your prop.
JackAk will be running a Stratus EA81 in his Avid + when he gets it completed so we will have another one to compare notes with. Hopefully he will be able to get it in the air sometime this year. I might even get to be the test pilot for his plane since I manged to first flight mine without damage . His setup will be pretty similar to mine but with the radiator on the belly, a 70" Warp Drive prop and leading edge cuffs on his wings.
On the location of the battery, I placed mine as far in the back of my baggage area as I could get it and also put my ELT there; it is about 6' behind the seats. Also, the additional 18" fusalage helps counter the subie engine weight and I still have to have a minimum of 10 lbs in my rear baggage to be within the CG range. That isn't a problem for me because I have about 40 lbs of survival gear that I always carry and I just keep it in the rear baggage area. For your MK IV you may want to consider installing an access door very near your tail and keep your battery as far backin the tail as it will fit. I have a buddy who has a MK IV with a Subie on floats and it has lead weights in the tails of the floats plus lead weights bolted onto the tail spring. keep your battery as far back as possible so you don't have to add any unecessary weight if if you can.
On the brakes. I don't know of many avid/KF owners who have outstanding brakes, especially with 26" bushwheel on. I ended up replacing the original matco brakes on my MK IV with the Matco remote reservoir master cylinders and moved the top piston mounting position as close to the pivot point as I could get it. I also replace the wheel units with Matco triple puck brakes adapted to fit the original Matco discs. These provide acceptable braking; I can hold the plane with the brakes and blow the tail up with power without a problem. I switched the setup over to my Avid+.
Keep us up to date on your progress.
Randy
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SuberAvid added a post in a topic handheld antenna
I use an Icom handheld plugged into airplane power and intercom with PTT switches in the stick grips (Allen multifuntion grips). I mounted the external antenna in the middle of the turtle deck and it seems to work pretty well. The antenna cable is connected to the internal part of the antenna and the external shield wrap is grounded to the mounting nut and contacts the turtle deck so it makes the ground connection there. I do not have an additional ground cable running just to the turtle deck but that might be a good belt and suspenders approach for peak performance.
The handheld does not have the power of the in panel units but it does pretty well for my flying. It picks up and transmits good within 50 miles at 1000' AGL and I have talked to towers at 150 miles at 2000' AGL.
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OKAvidFlyer added a post in a topic Parting out KF-III
How much would you take for the C gearbox?
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akflyer added a post in a topic handheld antenna
While the turtle deck may be a big ground plane, I dont think it is bonded to the airframe well enough to ground out on the airframe. You could probably run a ground wire to the turtle deck and get everything bonded together well enough for it to work great.
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henryetta added a topic in For Sale and wanted, you got it, I want it
AVID MARK 1V FOR SALEI'm looking for an Avid MK IV Heavy Hauler with the biggest engine available. Will pay Top Dollar for the Best One Available. I'm a 67 yr old seasoned Private Pilot with 23 Type Ratings, and am a serious buyer.
bobbybid@hotmail.com
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akflyer added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Few more pics from the other camera. I am very pissed that the two times we went flying, I left my good camera sitting in the lodge. Randy, lets hope for some weather just like we had this time and I will have the good camera with me for sure!
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efil 01 added a post in a topic handheld antenna
I heard that the place of antena was turtle deck because it is by itself a big grounding plan.
An other thing i plan to do on mine is to put the alternat button just above the throttle on panel, this way, it's easy to press and one only is sufficient for both pilots without mounting two buttons and cables to the top of sticks.
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akflyer added a post in a topic handheld antenna
A hand held was in my original plans for my plane. My brother had one in his KitFox and swore by it. Once I flew his plane all I did was swear at it. I think it may have been a grounding issue because he had his mounted on the turtle deck. Mine had a mount for the antenna behind the turtle deck just infront of the vertical fin. That is where my antenna is mounted now, and my plan was to just hook that into the hand held. I have used the hand held with the little rubber ducky antenna in the plane and it seems to work just fine also.
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egp8111 added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar
handheld antennaLooking for recommendations for an external antenna to use with a handheld radio. Where is the best place to mount it ?
thanks,
EG
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ybfcsqs added a post in a topic Avid+ flight Observations
Hey Randy,
Just talked to EFS and ascertained that they are still very much in business and will overhaul my EFS-2 throttle body if I send it back to them. It feels like Christmas all over again. They gave me another website (ELLISON-TBI.COM) and even had my serial number on record. To put it mildly, I'm in a most joyous mood! Gonna ship it out as soon as possible, they give a return time of around two weeks. Price seems right for the overhaul (approx. cost as per LOU) and I'm gonna be flying behind a nice overhauled EFS-2. Miracles do still happen and this will be one step closer to climbing back in the seat. Hope I don't knock down my buddy's fence like last time, but that's another story for later. Be well and keep s abreast of you and your bird. BTW, I'll be able to give you more definite performance data on the engine/NSI PRU/prop etc. later on. Jim
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akflyer added a post in a topic Straight Skis Transport
Thats a pretty darn slick idea!
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akflyer added a post in a topic CPS Rotax Course
Sitting at the gate at anc right now.. will be up there in a couple hours. Not going to make this course, I am swapping work schedules.
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akflyer added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Nope Randy left before we got the sauna dug out It was actually kept under control but it was very cool to hit the sauna after a good day of flying, a great dinner and way to many drinks. The norther lights gave us a great display during the short walk back to the cabin.
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ybfcsqs added a post in a topic EA81 Subaru Heavy Hauler
Randy, Forgot to ask - are the BINGs working out for your configuration? Are they very expensive, what about carb heat, manifold, etc. I think I had BINGs on my PEGASUS trike with ROTAX 503, don't remember. I'm sure the BINGs for the 912 are a little different. Thanks man ... Jim.
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ybfcsqs added a post in a topic EA81 Subaru Heavy Hauler
Hey Randy,
I'm running an NSI gear drive, not exactly sure just what the final drive ratio is. It has a clutch unit that engages as soon as the engine starts. You can freel-wheel spin it in one direction and it freely spins with no friction. I'm told (got some NSI literature) that it stays locked up if the engine quits, haven't tried that out(for sure). It uses thirty weight non-detergent oil and man the exploded few in the manual shows about a million parts (give or take). I've owned three different aircraft with ground adjustable WARP DRIVE props. The first one I bought came about after I inadvertently proped off my KR-2 with chocked wheels, but FULL THROTTLE. It went straight over on it's nose and sprayed tooth picks from the two blade fixed pitch prop all over the airport (I don't recommend doing this, kids). I used a needle type protractor from a PEGASUS trike on which I also had a WARP DRIVE to set the pitch. I set it using the tip of the prop as the point of reference, about three or four inches inboard. My NSI EA81 manual showed 19 I/2 degrees as the best climb vs. cruise compromise. I'm cranking out about 100 HP with the EFS-2 throttle body (still don't have a repair/rebuild solution but trying to contact STRATUS). Don't know about the difference in rpm you and I are turning but would guess that final drive ratio would be a likely explanation. Oh yes, my engine was built with a non-standard cam also. My torque curve would likely be a little different than yours.
Thanks for the info Randy, anything I can learn or impart I'm all ears and hopefully not so much mouth. Give me a shout-out anytime ... Jim.
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SuberAvid added a topic in Technical tasks
Straight Skis TransportWith the huge performance difference between straight skis and wheel penetration skis (I got to experience an unplanned overnight stuck in rotten snow on wheel skis) I vowed never to use wheel skis again. But the fickle snow situation we have here in Palmer means that more often than not our snow is blown off or melted between my hangar and the lake. Wolf Lake stayes frozen through the winter put I had to come up with a good solution to transport the plane down the taxiway to the other side of the runway, across a street and through the gate to the float plane slips. Fortunately it does not require me to fold the wings. After building two different designs of taxi wheels with a cam over design and a stirrup design; neither worked very well for such a long transport. I looked at my Avid tow bar that was seeing very little use and thought that a tilt trailer was the solution! Using the tow bar for a tongue, I welding a couple of angles on a wide stance axle and drilled through the angles and the forks to create the hinge point, and used 1/2" steel pins for the pivot. This allows the tow bar to be easily disconnected for it's original use or for compact storage of the trailer. I built a bed with 1x2 steel tube frame and bolted 2' x 8' press treated plywood to each side and left the center open, and screwed UHMW plastic to the plywood where the skis contact. I welded a reciever for a 2x3 channel near the hitch and mounted a hand boat winch on a 2' length of channel that plugs into it. I angled the bed frame at the front so the skis stop in contact and then welded a 1x2 tube on the tongue and a extended fork on the front of the bed to be able to pin it down or up.
With the tail wheel on the Avid skis it makes it easy to push the tilted trailer bed under the tips of the skis, hook a strap between each axle with a center loop strap for the boat winch and hand winch the plane up on the trailer. I made the ski stops so that axles are over the trailer axle so it tilts itselt flat when it is in place. Put in the pin and tow it to the lake with the tailwheel on the ground. Unloading is eaven easier; reverse the winch and unpin it, ease it off or just slowly drive out from under it. It even makes it easy to unload it back in the hanger.
Here are a couple of pics in case anone else is in the same situation.
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SuberAvid added a post in a topic EA81 Subaru Heavy Hauler
Hi Jim,
The Stratus is running dual Bing altitude compensating carbs; the same that the Rotax 912's run. They are set up to produce 100 - 105 HP. The redrive is a 2.2:1 cog belt drive.
I notice that you have a lot more pitch in your prop at 19.5 deg and you still turn higher RPM at 5000. What is your HP, what is your redrive ratio and where do you measure your prop? I only get about 4200 rpm on takeoff with 15 degrees of pitch measured at the tip.
Randy
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SuberAvid added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
I have to clear up one point here; Leni was accompanied by his lovely girl friend. This boy was not in the sauna with him.
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Av8r3400 added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Just you and the 'boys', Leni?
I guess it gets pretty lonely up there in the woods... The way I hear it, you don't loose your gal up there in Alaska, you just loose your turn.
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akflyer added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Just got home from the Lodge. Man what a flight. Climed out to 7000 and headed straight home with a nice little tailwind. Averaged 109 on the GPS. That was one great weekend with great company and AWESOME weather! I would tell you boys about the Sauna lastnight, but what happens at the lodge stays at the lodge
I forewarned them that we would be back next month for the Irondog. I plan on staying up there for a week next time weather permitting.
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horsepower added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Great pics guys,looks like a blast.Keep the photos coming my wife enjoys them,she is really getting into photography.Thanks Randy
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SuberAvid added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Having some trouble getting these to upload. Here are some more air to air and heading home.
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SuberAvid added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Here are some more pics; I wasn't sure I could get them all to send on one post.
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SuberAvid added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lake Lodge flyin #1 2011
Leni, Thank you for setting that up; it was an awsome trip. God's country , perfect weather and great people; it doesn't get any better than that. I am looking forward to the next time; hope we can do it again for the Irondog.
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